Handbag



A. LANDIS June 21, 1938.

HANDBAG Filed April 24, 1957 I l I :5 2 Z 22 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented June 21, 1938 PATENT OFFICE HANDBAG Aaron Landis,

Elizabeth, N. J.

Application April 24, 1937, Serial No. 138,723

9 Claims.

This invention relates to devices and methods that have reference to or which may be used in connection with handbags.

One object of the invention is to provide a device of the character described which includes a wall portion of improved woven celluloid construction.

An article such as a handbag thus woven has substantial advantages over handbags that may be made of ordinary sheet celluloid, because the latter results in a wall which is unduly stiff to the touch, and which causes unsightly nonuniform bulges when folded or curved at the bottom of the bag. Moreover, the ordinary sheet celluloid is liable to permanently crease or break when subjected to the stresses that frequently occur in a handbag, as where the latter is subjected to undue and uneven internal or external stresses, as where the bag body is tightly grasped, or squeezed in carrying the same under the arm.

According to my invention the handbag possesses a high degree of flexibility and pliability and is at once strong, neat and inherently attractive in appearance. Since the celluloid is readily cleaned or washed, the handbag is particularly adapted for summer use, especially in white color. Because celluloid is nonfibrous, there is no possibility of catching and tearing the delicate fabric of a womans summer dress at the edges of the interwoven strips.

In developing my invention, considerable experimentation was entailed in discovering the proper thickness required in the celluloid. The usual thicker grades of sheet celluloid did not permit the desired pliability of the woven fabric nor uniformity and closeness in the weave, and without the formation of openings where the strips crossed each other. It was therefore an object of the invention to discover the required thickness of celluloid, as the same might result in a durable, wearproof material, that combines the attractiveness of celluloid with the softness of a conventional handbag textile or leather fabric.

Another object of the invention is to furnish a device of the nature set forth wherein the walls for the devices may be individually constructed according to individual patterns to save waste of material and. to reduce labor.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a device of the type. mentioned wherein an improved wall may be woven as a self retaining unit, as by closed ended slits, to thus retain certain of the strips from loosening and forming undesired openings in the weave.

Another object of the invention is to provide improved means for thesecurement of the woven celluloid fabric, and to prevent slipping of certain strips of the weave and assure a uniform holding thereof.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a wall including a fabric of nonporous woven material together with means for arresting the flow of water through said wall, in an improved association.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved gusset construction for a handbag to eliminate the labor and skill required in fitting and turning in the edge of the gusset in sewing it to the curved bottom of the bag; and also an improved partition structure associated therewith.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of the type mentioned having relatively few and simple parts, and which is inexpensive to manufacture, durable, reliable and eflicient to a high degree in use.

Other objects and advantagesof the invention will become apparent as the specification proceeds.

With the aforesaid objects in View, the invention consists in the novel combinations and arrangments of parts hereinafter described in their preferred embodiments, pointed. out in the subjoined claims, and illustrated in the annexed drawing, wherein like parts are designated by the same reference characters throughout the several Views.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in front elevation showing a device embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is an end view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the device with the flap raised.

Fig. 4 is a rear view thereof.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of an element used in making a woven fabric wall according to an individual pattern.

Fig. 5a is a plan view of a modified element.

Fig. 6 shows the element embodied in a wall unit, the weave of which is self retaining.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a marginal framing element for the woven wall unit.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on the line 99 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 10 is a detail view with parts removed of a gusset and partition that may be secured as a unit into a handbag.

The advantages of the invention as here outlined are best realized when all of its features and instrumentalities are combined in one and the same structure, but, useful devices may be produced embodying less than the whole.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, that the same may be incorporated in several different constructions. The accompanying drawing, therefore, is submitted merely as showing the preferred exemplification of the invention.

The term celluloid as used herein is illustrative and is intended to apply to other plastics or materials having like characteristics of the type herein mentioned.

Referring in detail to the drawing, ll denotes a device embodying the invention. The same may be illustratively shown as a ladys handbag having a bag body or pocket l2, and a flap closure l3 therefor.

The side walls of the bag l2 include woven celluloid fabric I4 which may extend continuously along the frontand rear of the bag, with a noncreasing curve or fold at the bottom E5 of the bag. Enframing the celluloid fabric I4 is an element l6 extending continuously along the front, rear and bottom of the bag at the edges of the celluloid fabric l4. Interconnecting the side walls, the bag may have end gussets I! so that it can be expanded in opening'the bag mouth at the top of the bag. The closure l3 may be separately constructed and suitably secured to the rear wall of the bag at the top edge thereof as at l9. It may also have a woven celluloid fabric 20 framed in a marginal continuous element 2|. The device ll may be of any desired shape, but is here shown as trapezoidal to illustrate certain advantages of the invention. a

The celluloid fabric such as M and' 20 may be woven of strips of celluloid preferably approximately 0.008 inch thick. However, the thickness may in general vary between 0.005 .inch as a minimum and 0.012 inch as a maximum, these figures being given as approximations. Constructed of such material, the woven fabric is highly pliable and nevertheless durable and attractive in appearance.

While the celluloidfabric may be woven by means of looms or in any other well known manner, I rely at the present time upon hand weaving, effected in a novel manner to save waste of material and afford a fabric whose weave is directly self retaining. Thus in Fig. 6, I show a woven celluloid fabric blank 22 whose shape is according to a pattern for the-trapezoidal bag l2. The blank 22 may include a celluloid sheet out according to said pattern to form an element 23. The latter may have a series of parallel slits 24 which are closed ended to'affordintegral interconnecting portions 25 for the strips 23a that result between the slits. For ornamentation in the woven fabric, colored celluloid strips 26 may be pasted flatwise on certain of the strips 23a, so that portions of the colored strips will appear in the weave in the fabric 22. However, in Fig. 6, a showing of the colored strips 26 has been omitted.

Through the successive slits 24 are now threaded a series of separate celluloid cross strips 21 in a manner well known in weaving, the strips 21 being of lengths to conform to the varying width of the pattern, thus completing the woven unit 22.

It will now be apparent that angularly related edges of the fabric unit 22 correspond to the shape of the angularly related ends of the bag 12, and the intermediate parallel edges correspond to the shape of the angularly related ends of the bag l2, and the intermediate parallel edges at the ends of the bag bottom. The unit 22 thus affords the fabric I4 of the bag 12, and may be conveniently worked thereinto since the closed ended slits 24 cause the weave to be self retain- A suitable binding may be provided for the unit 22, but I prefer to use the one piece element l6 of pliable fabric, such as textile or leather, and which is cut to conform to the shape of the unit 22, and is formed with a window opening 28 to enframe said unit. At the corners of said opening 28, the element l6 may have diagonal slits 29, whereby the marginal portions 36 therebetween may be infolded and stitched to adjacent edge portions of the unit 22 as shown at 3|.

Prior to stitching the unit 22 to the element 5, the free ends of the cross strips 27! may be pasted to adjoining longitudinal strips 231; to assure extreme tightness in the weave. If desired, the unit 22 may be clipped as a whole in a suitable transparent adhesive, lacquer or solvent to obtain absolute union or cohesion of the strips 23a and 2'! throughout to maintain extreme tightness of the weave and prevent any minute openings under stress. However, such treatment reduces the pliability of the fabric, so that it is preferred merely to resort to the end cement- By interrupting the-slits 32 as shown at 33 in the element 34, cross reenforcement is obtained at 33, but the weaving is more difficult because the slits are shorter.

In sewing the unit 22 to the element 16, an adhesive reenforcement strip 35 may be sewn in at the same time, the strip 35 being thus pasted to the edge portions of the unit 22 and extending beyond said edge portions so as to be pasted to the element l6. Thus a smooth joint and a strong wall structure is assured. The same structural arrangement may be used in forming the closure flap l3.

Within the bag I2, I may provide a Waterproof lining fabric such as 36 to serve as a backing for the woven fabric l4 and to prevent the lining from being wetted in Washing the celluloid fabric, and further to prevent rain, and the like, from passing through the weave and wetting the contents of the handbag. Drying of the handbag may thus occur more rapidly. Preferably the lining is not pasted to the celluloid fabric, so as not to detract from the pliability of the latter. If desired, the lining may have a stiffened moistureproof backing 36a, which will also render uniform the stresses internally produced against the woven celluloid fabric. 1

The gusset I1 is desirably provided with a marginal pliable strip 37 secured or sewn thereto as shown at 38, so that the strip 31 extends at an angle to the plane of the gusset as shown in Fig. 10. This strip 31 may then be secured or sewn along its other edge, as at 39 to the adjacent outer edges of the element l6. In this manner, the laborious folding and working in of the gusset H at the bottom of the bag is avoided, the strip 31 being sewn to the gusset in the flat condition of the latter, and being in turn sewn flatwise to the side walls of the bag. This structure is applicable to bags made of any material.

An especial advantage permitted by my novel gusset arrangement is in conjunction with a partition such as 40 which is afforded by the provision of two separate pocket forming linings 36. Each of these is made in any suitable manner and.

H both are'disposed side by side and their inner walls 4| are stitched together as at 41a. to form the partition 40. The end portions of the pocket linings 36 are stitched to the upper edges of the adjacent gusset portions as shown at 42. Thus there is formed a partition which unites and holds together the opposed gussets l1 and prevents outward bulging thereof. Such a partition is continuous with the inner portions of the gussets in a neat and uniform manner. The outer side walls 43 of the pocket linings may be secured to the outer walls of the handbag in any suitable manner, as by stitchingat 44, 45.

Now, by the use of the gusset strips 31, the interconnected pocket linings may be conveniently sewn at 42 to the gussets l1, and then these linings, gussets and gusset strips may be assembled as a unit with the side walls of the bag body by stitching at 39, 44 and 45. This method permits the linings to be easily sewn to the gussets at 42 while the latter are flat, and the linings do not form an impediment in sewing the gussets to the bag walls where the strips 31 are employed. Linings and gussets will fit accurately, when the new structural unit 36, I1 and 31 is used.

It will thus be seen thatI have provided a novel fabric and a handbag which fulfill the objects of the invention and which can be inexpensively made according to my improved methods.

I claim:

1. A device including a handbag comprising a pocket having at least one wallthereof consisting substantially of woven celluloid strips of a thickness between approximately 0.005 inch and 0.012 inch as minimum and maximum thicknesses, said handbag including a securing portion, adhesive backing elements interconnecting the strips adjacent to the ends thereof, and stitching passing through and interconnecting the said securing portion, the backing elements and the strips, and the backing elements having adhesive engagement with the securing portion beyond the adjacent ends of the strips.

2. A device including a handbag comprising a pocket having at least one wall thereof consisting substantially of closely woven celluloid strips of 'a thickness between approximately 0.005 inch and 0.012 inch as minimum and maximum thicknesses, said handbag including a wall element consisting of a sheet fabric having a central opening, said strips forming a fabric closing said opening and marginally secured to said element, and adhesive backing elements interconnecting the strips adjacent to their ends to maintain the closeness of the weave, and said backing elements being adhesively secured to said wall element.

3. A device including a handbagcomprising a pocket having at least one wall thereof consisting substantially of woven celluloid strips of a thickness between approximately 0.005 inch and 0.012 inch as minimum and maximum thicknesses, said handbag including a one piece element consisting of a pliable fabric and having a central opening, the strips forming a fabric closing said opening,

, said element and said fabric having a transverse fold to thus form the bottom and sides of the handbag. I

4. A device including a handbag having bot-' bag including a partition, said gussets being infolded, said partition comprising apair of interconnected members of sheet material extending along opposite sides of the fold of the gusset and connected thereto to retain the gusset infolded whereby the partition, gusset and strip member can be connected together for assembling as a unit with the side walls of the bag.

5. A device including a ladies handbag comprising a pocket at least one .wall thereof consisting substantially of closely woven celluloid strips of a thickness betweenapproximately 0.005 inch and 0.012 inch as minimum and maximum, said handbag including a securing portion, adhesive backing elements interconnecting the strips adjacent to the ends thereof, with the woven strips affording a relatively soft resilient structure, and stitching passing through and interconnecting the said securing portion, the strips and the backing element, said adhesive element serving to maintain the closeness of said weave and to avoid relative movement of the strips by yielding of the stitch thread. 6. A device including a ladies handbag comprising a pocket having at least one wall thereof consisting substantially of closely woven celluloid strips of a thickness between approximately 0.005 inch and 0.012 inch as minimum and maximum thicknesses, said handbag having a wall element including a sheet of flexible fabric having a central opening, said woven celluloid strips forming a relatively soft resilient fabric closing said opening, and flexible means securing the strips at their ends to the marginal portions of said Wall element at said opening, said means maintaining the closeness of the weave and permitting the softness and resilience of the woven fabric to be maintained.

'7. A device including a ladies handbag comprising a pocket at least one side wall whereof consists substantially of celluloid strips of a thickness between approximately 0.005 inch and 0.012 inch as minimum and maximum thicknesses, said strips extending in different directions and being interwoven in substantial contact with each other to produce a closely woven thin plane sheet of celluloid fabric, the thickness of the strips and the nature ofthe weave being so related to each other as to result in a fabric having sufficient I contents, said handbag having other wall portions for marginally engaging and mounting said side wall, and means securing the latter at the ends of said strips to the wall portions, said means being continuous to serve to maintain the closeness of weave of said fabric under different stresses caused by the handbag contents.

8. A device according to claim "7, wherein said woven fabric and said wall portions have a creaseless fold to provide a bottom and a second side wall for the handbag.

9. A device according to claim 7, wherein said wall portions consist of a sheet of fabric having a central opening closed by the woven celluloid fabric.

AARON LANDIS. 

